50 Encouraging Quotes About Reaching the Finish Line

Meeting our goals is important to our lives and our success. We make a smart decision each time we choose to endure until we reach the finish line. Like a runner or a racecar driver, we must continue even when the going is rough if we expect to accomplish our goals at the finish line.

Like the runner from Tanzania quoted below, we are not just making our way toward the finish line – we intend to finish the race.

These 50 encouraging quotes remind us that meeting our goals is important. Christopher Reeve inspires us to do the impossible, and Duke Ellington tells us “A goal is a dream with a finish line.” Author Steven Pressfield reminds us that “resistance is the greatest just before the finish line.”

For all of us on this complex journey of life, we have selected 50 encouraging quotes about reaching the finish line.

Finishing Line Quotes

“It is not how you start the race or where you are during the race-it is how you cross the finish line that will matter.” Robert D. Hales

“Nice guys finish first. If you don’t know that, then you don’t know where the finish line is.” Garry Shandling

“A goal is a dream with a finish line.” Duke Ellington

“Remember: You’ll be left with an empty feeling if you hit the finish line alone. When you run a race as a team, though, you’ll discover that much of the reward comes from hitting the tape together. You want to be surrounded not just by cheering onlookers but by a crowd of winners, celebrating as one.” Howard Schultz

“The path of true love never ran smooth. More likely you ran out of gas, blew a tire, and hit the wall before you crossed the finish line.” Erin McCarthy

“For everyone who thought I couldn’t do it… for everyone who thought I shouldn’t do it… for everyone who said, ‘It’s impossible’… see you at the finish line!” Christopher Reeve

“In choosing joy, the finish line dissolves into a different matter altogether.” Mary Anne Radmacher

“Resistance is greatest just before the finish line.” Steven Pressfield

“~Don’t forget to cheer for yourself, when you reach the finish line~” Charmaine J Forde

“We didn’t crumble after 9/11. We didn’t falter after the Boston Marathon. But we’re America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure. We overcome. We own the finish line.” Joe Biden

“There is no finish line. When you reach one goal, find a new one.” Chuck Norris

“The finish line is the culmination of a journey. As such, we should never pay it so much attention that the culmination of the journey becomes the whole of the journey at the expense of the journey.” Craig D. Lounsbrough

“People who consistently win have a clear and thoughtful strategy. They know what they need to do and when they need to do it. They write it down so they stay on course, and avoid any alternative that does not get them closer to the finish line.” Phil McGraw

“The longer I persist on my journey toward my goal, the closer I come to finish line.” Debasish Mridha

“Sometimes we become so focused on the finish line, that we fail to find joy in the journey. ” Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Life is the only race you’ll run where you don’t know where the finish line is.” Steve Farrar

“In the end, the American dream is not a sprint, or even a marathon, but a relay. Our families don’t always cross the finish line in the span of one generation. But each generation passes on to the next the fruits of their labor.” Julian Castro

“A horse that doesn’t set foot on the track is certainly never going to cross the finish line, let alone win the race.” Richie Norton

“Suffering produces the very endurance that will enable you to reach the finish line of the race set before you.” Catherine Martin

“You have got to decide, look, this is who I am; this is my best way to present myself, and I’m going to ride that horse to the finish line. Not everybody will like it, but that’s OK.” Phil McGraw

“When it comes to life, I would much rather have run the race well than have run the race fast. For if we understand life, we would realize that the first one to cross the finish line is not necessarily the one who actually won the race.” Craig D. Lounsbrough

“The steeper the mountain the harder the climb the better the view from the finish line” Paula Abdul

“Keep moving in the direction of your dreams. No matter how slows it may seems, stay focus, you will get to the finish line.” Lailah Gifty Akita

“Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back. Learn to create your own opportunities. Know that there is no finish line; fortune favors action. Race balls-out toward the extraordinary life that you’ve always dreamed of, or still haven’t had time to dream up. And prepare to have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.” Sophia Amoruso

“Once you’ve committed yourself to something, pace yourself to the finish line.” Meb Keflezighi

“Crippled and crazy, we hobble toward the finish line, pen in hand.” Siri Hustvedt

“I feel so lucky to have lived the life that I did and to be surrounded by the people I love. I’ve got eight kids, and they’re always laughing all the time. It’s like music to my ears. I think that my frame of mind these days is probably happier than I’ve ever been, which is kind of odd, coming close to the finish line.” Kris Kristofferson

“The race for excellence has no finish line.” Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

“Doesn’t matter how fast you cross the finish line if you’re running the wrong race.” Richie Norton

“At 10 minutes to seven on a dark, cool evening in Mexico City in 1968, John Stephen Akwari of Tanzania painfully hobbled into the Olympic Stadium-the last man to finish the marathon. The winner had already been crowned, and the victory ceremony was long finished. So the stadium was almost empty and Akwari – alone, his leg bloody and bandaged – struggled to circle the track to the finish line. When asked why he had continued the grueling struggle, the young man from Tanzania answered softly: My country did not send me 9,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 9,000 miles to finish the race.” Walter Inglis Anderson

“The race for Quality has no finish line – so technically, it’s more like a death march. Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker

“It is not because of setbacks that most entrepreneurs do not reach the finishing line, but because of a lack of willpower and motivation.” Danny Mekić

“It always takes the truth a little bit longer to cross the finish line.” Kim Basinger

“Opportunity to suspend disbelief is often why we watch movies. The stories and images touch us and shift perspectives in ways we may not allow in our daily lives. As readily as you check your “this isn’t real” attitude at the ticket counter – when transformers are defending earth against aliens and 21st century vampires frolic by daylight – on the big screen of your heart and mind train for, run and celebrate finishing your first marathon.” Gina Greenlee

“Conquer your fears, one fear at a time, and eventually you will reach the finish line.” Jeanette Coron

“Your ideas have legs and just as they run through your head, they could be running through someone else’s head and it’s just a matter of who gets to the finish line first. Nothing is new under the sun so act on your ideas.” Sanjo Jendayi

“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” John Bingham

“I have great empathy for all the contestants that come on ‘Top Chef,’ whether they go home right away or they make it to the finish line. It’s a very vulnerable position they put themselves in and I feel for them.” Padma Lakshmi

“You have to face a giant to become one.” Johnnie Dent Jr.

“As we make our way toward the finish line that some of us have already crossed, I never thought I’d get a Grammy Award. In fact, I was always touched by the modesty of their interest.” Leonard Cohen

“As your training integrates Mind, Body and Spirit, enjoy the process. Your journey to the marathon finish will last a few hours. Your journey to the start will influence a lifetime.” Gina Greenlee

“Everything ends; you just have to figure out a way to push to the finish line.” Jesse Itzler

“Keep your eyes on the finish line and not on the turmoil around you.” Rihanna

“There are times when you run a marathon and you wonder, Why am I doing this? But you take a drink of water, and around the next bend, you get your wind back, remember the finish line, and keep going.” Steve Jobs

“Crossing the starting line may be an act of courage, but crossing the finish line is an act of faith. Faith is what keeps us going when nothing else will. Faith is the emotion that will give you victory over your past, the demons in your soul, & all of those voices that tell you what you can & cannot do & can & cannot be.” John Bingham

“Your spirit is the duster of any spider web. Behind every finish line, there is a start one. Behind every success, there is another challenge. While you are alive, be alive. If you miss what you once did, do it again. Don’t live in yellow photos… Continue although everyone expects you to give up. Don’t let oxide the iron that is inside you. Do that instead of pity, and they will respect you. When because of years you cannot run, jog. When you cannot jog, walk. When you cannot walk, use a cane. But never stop!” Mother Teresa

“There is no finish line to leadership.” Julia Hartz

“Why is it that the finish line always tends to appear just after the point at which we most want to give up? is it the universe’s way of reserving the best for those who can give the most? What I do know, from nature, is that the dawn only appears after the darkest hour.” Bear Grylls

“Being the first to cross the finish line makes you a winner in only one phase of life. It’s what you do after you cross the line that really counts.” Ralph Boston

“I have been running so sweaty my whole life urgent for a finish line and I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete” Alanis Morissette

Summary

These encouraging quotes remind us that meeting our goals is important, just as the journey there is critical to our success and satisfaction. They also remind us that some fun can be enjoyed along the way.

So reach your goals, but pay attention to the journey!